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First published online May 24, 2004

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Kick-starting life with calcium

Increases in cytosolic Ca²⁺ levels control many cellular processes, including the one that starts all life: egg activation at fertilisation. The entry of the sperm into the egg triggers a series of Ca²⁺ oscillations that last for several hours until pronuclear formation at the first interphase. The oscillations restart when the zygote undergoes its first mitosis, but what regulates these cell-cycle-dependent oscillations is unclear. On p. 2513, Karl Swann and colleagues propose that this pattern of Ca²⁺ oscillations is achieved in early mouse embryos through the nuclear targeting of a sperm-specific phospholipase C (PLC): PLC. They show that PLC-induced Ca²⁺ oscillations occur only during M phase, that PLC localises to the pronuclei when they form and that, when this localisation is prevented by the removal of the PLC nuclear localisation signal or by inhibition of pronucleus formation, the Ca²⁺ oscillations are prolonged. The authors propose that, at fertilisation, sperm-derived PLC enters the egg cytosol, where it initiates and maintains Ca²⁺ oscillations until pronucleus formation sequesters it away from its substrate.

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Related articles in JCS:

Cell cycle-dependent Ca²⁺ oscillations in mouse embryos are regulated by nuclear targeting of PLC

Mark G. Larman, Christopher M. Saunders, John Carroll, F. Anthony Lai, and Karl Swann
JCS 2004 117: 2513-2521. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?